Botanical classification/cultivar denomination: Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. cultivar Dueprempink.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Poinsettia plant, botanically known as Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd., and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Dueprempinkxe2x80x99.
The new Poinsettia is a product of a mutation induction program conducted by the Inventor in Rheinberg, Germany. The objective of the program is to create new Poinsettia cultivars with uniform plant habit and attractive flower bract coloration.
The new Poinsettia originated by exposing unrooted cuttings of a proprietary Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. selection identified as code number E-16-18, not patented, to gamma radiation in Rheinberg, Germany. The new Poinsettia was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single plant within a population of irradiated plants in a controlled environment in Rheinberg, Germany in December, 2000. The selection of this plant was based on its attractive flower bract coloration.
Asexual reproduction of the new Poinsettia by vegetative terminal cuttings taken at Rheinberg, Germany since March, 2001, has shown that the unique features of this new Poinsettia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Dueprempinkxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Dueprempinkxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Inflorescences with dark pink-colored flower bracts.
2. Dark green-colored leaves.
3. Uniform and rounded plant habit.
4. Freely branching habit.
5. Early flowering habit; response time, about eight weeks.
6. Excellent post-production longevity.
Plants of the new Poinsettia differ primarily from plants of the parent, the selection E-16-18, in flower bract color. Plants of the new Poinsettia differ primarily from plants of the Poinsettia cultivar Duepremwi, disclosed in a U.S. Plant Patent application filed concurrently, in flower bract color.
Plants of the new Poinsettia can be compared to plants of the cultivar Malibu Pink, not patented. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Rheinberg, Germany, plants of the new Poinsettia differed from plants of the cultivar Malibu Pink in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Poinsettia were shorter than plants of the cultivar Malibu Pink.
2. Plants of the new Poinsettia had larger inflorescences than plants of the cultivar Malibu Pink.
3. Flower bracts of plants of the new Poinsettia were lighter pink in color than flower bracts of plants of the cultivar Malibu Pink.